Evolving Languages in Art and Technology

This issue of Crossings features an extraordinarily
ambitous and (literally) far-reaching artistic endeavour. Anna
Hill's work-in-progress statement describes an interactive art
installation, part of which will reside on Earth, and part of
which (a free-floating sculpture designed for zero gravity) will
reside on the International Space Station from 2007. This work
is intended to extend to humans on Earth the profound experience
of human space travel. This ‘art system’
incorporates a variety of different platforms (e.g., an
interactive space sculpture but also conventional websites and
solar-powered trucks) in an attempt to bring the new
perspectives afforded by the experience of space travel to
humans in remote or deprived areas and at the same time bring
the diversity of Earth to space.

Jim Bizzocchi explores the likely impact of the increasing
availability of large flat-screen displays on the visual
language of video. He argues that the widespread presence of
this display format will lead to content that is more cinematic
and pictorial in style than current video content. The use of
such displays in ambient settings is likely to result in a
slower mode of visual storytelling than the one that is popular
with the traditional TV set – a surprising development in
an era where the accelerative effects of technology are taken
for granted. While ambient HDTV seems better adapted for the
distracted viewing habits of TV audiences, the cinematic format
of the HDTV screen is also ideal for the immersive experience
associated with more focused viewing.

Petra Gemeinböck is concerned with the visual language
of an even more immersive medium: abstract Virtual Reality (VR).
In her paper, she presents two VR installations and discusses
representational and performative aspects of the medium.
Gemeinböck's work distinguishes itself from many other VR
efforts in that her installations do not attempt to reproduce
the real naturalistically, but are abstract. Her objective is
to expand and explore the boundary of the self by creating a
dynamic and responsive space in-between the real and the
virtual. The two artworks and Gemeinböck's paper
constitute a dramatic exploration of the language of
abstract VR. This is a medium in which the interplay of shape,
colour, movement and interaction forms a language that is still
far from well understood. The language is based in
intuition rather than preexisting conventions. The rules are
obscure and unfamiliar, and as a result, the participant must
explore and negotiate the language through engagement with the
works.

Sam Ball and Kathryn Farley recount their experiences with a
technologically augmented, media-rich stage design. Like
Gemeinböck, Ball and Farley use a practical application (an
educational theatre performance) as their starting point for
analysis. Their DuSable Project uses nonlinear
storytelling and interactive imagery to teach history as human
explanations based in interpretation and multiple perspectives,
rather than uncomplicated fact. An important part of the play's
visual language is the addition and subtraction of layers of
projected images in a spontaneous and modular fashion. These
dynamically constructed, layered collages illustrate the story
as well as enact the fluid process of historical interpretation
and the iterative process of constructing meaning. The plot
structure also draws attention to multiple interpretations of
history, allowing audience members to choose among several
possible plotlines.

The Weird View project presented by Valentina Nisi
and Mads Haahr uses nonlinear narrative techniques to relay oral
history. The multimedia application depicts a small community
through a hyperlinked collage of stories collected from the
community members themselves. The audience navigates the story
space by choosing spatial and thematic links to construct their
own narrative path. Like the DuSable Project,
Weird View uses nonlinear structures to create a sense
of multiple perspectives, dispersing the author's central
authority and control among many sources and the audience
themselves. In order for the authors to relegate their control
in this manner, they have to take on an even more challenging
(but perhaps more powerful) role as architect of reading
possibilities. The challenge of meta-design for interactive art
leads Candy and Edmonds (in
Crossings 2.1) to suggest thinking terms of ‘art
systems’ rather than artworks. The artist engineers the
code through which the participant creates and, in the case of
narrative, tells the story.